Chapter 4: Cave New World

-Golden Shores, Port Clovis-

Will looked down at the pitted white ball at his feet that he was lining with his nine iron as he took a few test swings at it. When he was sure of his shot, he hit the ball but it stopped a meter or so from the hole.

"Damn. So much for a hole in one." The author sighed, but really wasn't feeling all that disappointed.

"You're lucky enough, though." Trip told him, pointing towards a water hazard. "Most people end up with balls in there quite a bit." He added.

"Yeah, and those balls probably end up eaten by a fish that mistook them for prey." Will mused, knowing that it wasn't unheard of for a fish to eat golf balls because of mistaken identity.

"Yep." Trip nodded as he watched an elderly man playing a hole, right as Sirena jumped out of the water–snapping two king mackerels at once. "Nothing gets a King Fish in the mood like watching a 72-year old hit a triple bogey." He continued as he knocked his ball in a hole in one. "The fact that they turned Baton Tordu into a spawning ground is a testament of their love of senior golf." He added as Sirena hopped from the ocean around the course into a water hazard, with Bioelectric fins on.

"That could make a good line for Maneater." The marine biologist noted.

"Ooh, good idea!" Trip said as he perked up before writing down the very thing he just said.

Unknown to them, Sirena was watching them (specifically Will) from a water hazard as she looked around for landmarks.

As much as she wanted to flop her way up to him on land, it really wouldn't be good for her since she'd suffocate. All she could do for now until a chance arose was simply watch the human she had grown somewhat infatuated with.

Discarding those thoughts for her objective, she hopped out of the water hazard and back into the ocean to search for more landmarks.

(Later)

Time passed and Sirena was still in the process of eating mackerel, parrot fish, the occasional Mako and plenty of nutrient caches. Continuously growing her poisonous, electric and bone teeth while also improving her electric fins.

Crunching down on one last Sea Turtle, the sea wolf felt like something was eyeing her as she swam towards a grated area.

"Even after the invention of a killer clown task force, Port Clovis continues to experience clown related crimes." Trip commented as the obvious figure of a clown was revealed.

(Meanwhile)

Will looked at the drone's feed with a perplexed look on his face. He'd heard of some pretty weird stuff, but a clown in an underwater sewer? That made the top fifteen.

"... Is that a statue or a live mutant clown?" He wondered, unable to make heads or tails of what he was looking at.

Trip was in the same boat.

(Elsewhere)

Sirena, unable to understand what exactly she was looking at through the grate, swam off.

As she reentered the waters of Golden Shores, she then started eating mackerel and looking for more landmarks, and hunters to devour to draw out the next big bad.

This continued for a bit until she stopped momentarily, when a large and healthy looking male Bull Shark started swimming towards her, circling her a few times, and then nudging her with his nose.

Sirena… was not interested. She showed this by simply swimming off, which left the male feeling dejected before he too swam off.

However, as she uncovered more landmarks and hunted down a few Makos–unlocking Shadow Fins in the process–she was approached by another mature male Bull Shark.

Only this one was far more aggressive with his advances towards her. He clearly wanted to mate with her.

The mutant female, however, did not take to his aggressive actions well. When the male got more forceful, she bit him in the side with her bioelectric teeth to send her message. However, it seemed that this male was not one to take a hint.

"Jeez, can this guy not take a hint?" Will mused as Trip made commentary on the scene.

"It would seem that Sirena isn't all that interested in having children as of yet. If she were, then she may mellow out quite a bit." The man mused.

Deciding that this guy was not going to leave her alone if she stayed, the Bull Shark used her fins to electrically teleport away from him, stunning him and allowing her to retreat to somewhere else.

(Later)

After her impromptu meeting with two would-be mates that honestly didn't feel right to her (the aggressive one especially), Sirena was in an underwater cave beneath the Golden Shores helping herself to some mackerel and barracuda that were within.

And upon getting out of it with a few nutrient caches worth of food in her, she then swam towards the golf courses again, and saw something zooming towards her.

"The Sultan of Speed, the Mako!" Trip exclaimed as the Apex Mako appeared.

Snarling at her obviously speedy opponent, Sirena darted towards the Mako as fast as she could in an attempt to take a bite out of him, but the shark was too fast for her and evaded her attack. The sea wolf hissed in pain when the Mako took a bite out of her, but didn't feel that it was major.

Deciding to try something she'd done with the barracuda, she dodged a pass, stunning it with her fins, swapping to her toxic teeth and bit it–poisoning the creature as it wildly rushed her. And when it came at her broadside, she swung around and slammed her tail into it, sending it flying out of the water and onto the golf course.

In traditional human fashion, everyone on the golf course was startled by a Mako suddenly landing on the grass. Then it grew into outright panic when Sirena jumped out of the water and flopped her way up to the Mako before tearing it to shreds right where it was. It was a very grizzly display.

Then, when the mutant Bull Shark was done, she flopped back into the water before suffocation could set in and swam off.

"The Mako is known as the peregrine falcon of sharks." Trip noted. "But seeing as that the peregrine is a land based bird, this designation means nothing to the Mako." He added.

(Later)

After the fight with the Mako, Will and Trip were sitting down with the third shark hunter who intended to take down the Maneater: Pookie Paul, the Savage Shrimper.

"So, you really think you can take on the Maneater and win?" Trip asked as the three sat at a picnic table.

"Yeah. I got discharged from the military, so I plan to redeem myself. That shark's gonna die, cuz I'm gonna kill it." The man replied.

'I feel like a pattern is forming.' Will thought as the interview continued.

(The next day)

As Sirena swam about the waters of Golden Shores chomping down on groupers, she suddenly had to dodge shots fired from an auto rifle. This made her look at where they came from in irritation.

Seeing several shark hunters gunning for her, Sirena growled at them and swam right at the boats assailing her.

Using her electric, shadow and bone fins she shocked the boat's engines, overloading them and causing them to explode and stall. Poison any divers who came towards her. And then used her bone fins to shred the boats apart, leaving them at her mercy to devour.

As she massacred the idiots dumb enough to attack her, she noticed yet another boat speeding to the scene.

"The Savage Shrimper, Pookie Paul." Trip announced.

"You're mine, you overgrown piranha!" The hunter exclaimed as he aimed an auto rifle at the sea wolf.

Sirena growled as she rushed the boat and spun to deflect the bullets–before hitting Pookie in the face with her jaws, taking him into the water with her and devouring him.

Paul tried to escape, naturally, but he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell at actually getting away.

After that, she started swimming back to her grotto.

(Later)

It was night time in Port Clovis, and Will had taken his personal boat out to the buoy that he knew marked the entrance to Sirena's grotto. He currently had some diving gear on board, and he decided to do something that could be classified as brave or stupid by many different people: he was going to enter the Maneater's current grotto.

When he arrived, he dropped anchor, got his gear on and dived into the water.

'Here goes nothing…' He thought as he swam into the grotto, and immediately saw Sirena swimming around a bit to burn out some extra energy.

Upon sensing an intruder in her grotto, the sea wolf moved to kill the interloper. However, when Will's scent hit her nose, she stopped and stared at him. She hadn't expected him to visit her in her own grotto before, but all the same, she finally had a chance to show how much she liked him.

Swimming up to him at a slow pace to avoid scaring him off, the Maneater pressed her snout into his midsection gently. Will smiled a bit as he gently rubbed the top of her head, causing her to relax in response to his touch. It helped that he was barehanded, which was better, as far as the Bull Shark was concerned.

As he kept rubbing her head, the shark got so relaxed that she rolled over and turned upside down. Seeing an opportunity, the author started rubbing Sirena's belly, which elicited something new: she purred in bliss.

Emboldened, Will kept rubbing the sea wolf's belly, causing her purrs to grow louder in volume.

'I never knew a Bull Shark could be this adorable!' Will thought in glee as he kept rubbing the mutant shark's belly.

Sure, he'd had plenty of encounters like this with several nurse and tiger sharks, but never a Bull Shark. They were always far too aggressive. But Sirena? She was nothing like that.

Eventually the two had to pull away as Will's air supply began to get low, but the young man left her with a kiss on the nose, which flustered the cretaceous rover.

It would seem that she was indeed beginning to really like this human.

(Present Day)

Sirena smiled as she laid a blanket on Raja and Jasmine as they fell asleep on the rug in front of the fireplace a rainstorm poured outside. Jacquie and Civil were also sleeping on the couch with little Eevee sleeping in her mother's arms.

The shark woman smiled at this right as Will hugged her from behind, who she surprised by kissing him on the nose–like he did her all those years ago.

"Don't think I forgot that kiss to the nose you gave me in Golden Shores." She quipped as she hugged him.

"You… You remember?" Her husband gasped in surprise. "I thought those explosions made you forget our interactions?" He questioned.

"They did mess my head up for a good while, but they're slowly coming back to me." The shark gal sighed. "It was a nightmare not having those. I felt… so lost, so… confused." She added in a whisper.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." The man sighed as the two laid down with their twin children.

"Well, we're together now. That's all that matters." Sirena cooed, kissing her husband good night as they embraced their children–and lovers as the two joined them–and fell asleep in front of a warm fireplace.

Dragon Emperor0: As you guys are probably able to see, this story is also partly meant to patch up a few minor discrepancies in the writing of Queen of Pirates' earlier chapters. Hopefully it does just that, and adds more to what's already there.

ThermalsniperN7: We're also building on the bond that Will and Sirena have had for a long time, and as for the explosions… Well, if you've played Maneater, you'll know which ones we're referring to. Also… My heart melted when Sirena started purring in response to Will's belly rubs.

Dragon Emperor0: And what was said isn't an exaggeration, Tiger Sharks and Nurse Sharks have been known to be docile and playful with humans. But that's another story for another time. Anyway, see you guys later.